peace, mjh

Think Progress » Will: Americans are economically better off today than they were eight years ago.

In a USA Today/Gallup poll released earlier this month, a record number of Americans — 55 percent — said that their families are worse off financially than they were a year ago. But conservative columnist George Will thinks these people are just misinformed. On ABC’s This Week yesterday, Will brazenly claimed that average Americans “are better off today than they were in 2000-2001.”

Think Progress » Will: Americans are economically better off today than they were eight years ago.

Watch for a pattern in the following. peace, mjh

The Back Forty » McCain Adviser Stays Classy – Lies with a Smile
By Tracy Russo

Nice job, Carly.

On Fox News today, Carly Fiorina, who is a top economic adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), blatantly distorted Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) tax proposals. When Fox’s Martha MacCallum noted that Obama says he wants to “put money back in people’s pockets and give them tax cuts,” Fiorina claimed that Obama has “not proposed one single tax cut”

Fiorina’s assertion is flagrantly wrong and disingenuous. In fact, Obama prominently touts his plan to “cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families” on his website:

Obama even touted his tax cut plan in a widely covered speech yesterday, saying that it would “provide $1,000 of relief to 95% of workers and their families.”

In the same segment, Fiorina claimed that her boss, John McCain, “has been very explicit about the taxes he will cut.” But she neglected to mention that McCain is far from explicit in explaining how he’ll pay for massive deficits created by his tax proposals. In fact, he refuses to name a single program he’ll cut.

The Back Forty » McCain Adviser Stays Classy – Lies with a Smile

Think Progress » McCain denies his record of supporting Social Security privatization. 

During his town hall event in New Hampshire yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) got into a verbal back and forth with a voter over his support for Social Security privatization. McCain told the man, “I’m not for, quote, privatizing Social Security. I never have been. I never will be.” Watch it:

But McCain’s record begs to differ:

– “Without privatization, I don’t see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits.” [C-Span Road to the White House, 11/18/2004]

– “As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it — along the lines that President Bush proposed.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/2008]

Not only was McCain “a big booster” of Bush’s 2005 plan to privatize Social Security, but one of his top economic advisers, Carly Fiorina, recently told conservative radio host Bill Bennett that McCain “supports private accounts as one of the ways to reform the system” and that “he will continue to be supportive of those.”

Think Progress » McCain denies his record of supporting Social Security privatization.

Think Progress » Sen. Martinez Calls Out Dick Cheney’s Lie On Oil Drilling Off Coast Of Cuba 

In a speech before the Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney – the former CEO of the oil services company Halliburton — called for a substantial increase in domestic drilling for oil and other natural resources.

In his speech, Cheney claimed that China is pumping for oil off the coast of Florida, noting that “even the Communists” understand the need for more drilling:

It’s my own view that we should be drilling in ANWR in an environmentally responsible way, which could increase our daily domestic oil production by as much as a million barrels a day. As for other locations, George Will pointed out in his column the other day that oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. But we’re not doing it, the Chinese are, in cooperation with the Cuban government. Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices is more supply.

Mother Jones and the Gavel note that Reps. John Boehner (R-OH) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) have uttered the same talking points. It’s false. And they’re being called out on it by a conservative senator who knows more about the issue than they do.

Armed with maps and reports, Sen. Mel Martinez – a Florida Republican who served in Bush’s cabinet – took to the Senate floor to dispute Cheney’s claim

Think Progress » Sen. Martinez Calls Out Dick Cheney’s Lie On Oil Drilling Off Coast Of Cuba

Think Progress » DeLay On Obama: ‘Unless He Proves Me Wrong, He Is A Marxist’

On right-winger Mike Gallagher’s radio show today, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), who is currently facing charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money, launched a fringe attack on Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) by claiming that he is a Marxist. “I have said publicly, and I will again, that unless he proves me wrong, he is a Marxist,” DeLay declared.

Gallagher couldn’t agree more, saying “that’s what he is”:

GALLAGHER: Yeah, that’s, we hear that everyday. Congressman, every day someone will say to me, and I’ve said it, it’s as if this were a guy who’s desperately trying to cover up what seems to be the kind of old school Marxist, radical liberal failed ideology.

DELAY: Absolutely.

GALLAGHER: That’s what he is.

DELAY: No doubt about it.

NM Could Decide the 2008 Race (no really!) – Duke City Fix

Electoral-vote.com classifies our state as “barely Democrat”. In New Mexico in 2000, Gore defeated Bush by 366 votes. In 2004 Bush beat Kerry by 5988 votes. It is conceivable that in 2008, New Mexico might decide who the next President is by a state margin of less than half a percentage point.

Each Party Is Set to Hunt The Other’s Usual Ground

An analysis of past elections shows remarkable stability. States the Democrats have won in four of the past five elections add up to 255 electoral votes; states Republicans have won in five of the past seven elections (including two Ronald Reagan electoral landslides) account for 269 electoral votes. New Hampshire, New Mexico and West Virginia, representing 14 electoral votes, fall into neither category.

In 2004, 13 states were decided by seven or fewer percentage points: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

2008 Electoral Map Based On Intrade Prediction Market

Democrat: 289
Republican: 227 [-13]
Dead Heat: 22 [+13]
Total: 538 (270 to win)

Election 2008: Presidential, Senate and House Races Updated Daily

Obama 287 McCain 227 Ties 24

The Back Forty » Sweet Seventeen By Sean Reagan

While not backing off its 50-state strategy, the Obama campaign is prepping for a 17 state focus – key battlegrounds where they’ll be directing the bulk of their resources.

The seventeen states are: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Obviously a lot of these are swing states – Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania. A couple – Georgia and North Carolina – are eye-openers, but as I noted earlier, forcing the Republicans to spend time and money in places they don’t want or didn’t expect to, is a net gain for Democrats.

[Sean Reagan] might’ve added a couple states – Montana and Maine most notably – but on whole it’s a sound list.

The other point to be made is that many of the states have a significant rural constituency. In terms of population, New Hampshire and North Carolina are ranked 11th and 12th respectively. Wisconsin and Missouri are 20 and 21.

Altogether, ten of the seventeen are ranked above the U.S. average of 21% rural population.

If Obama plans to win in these states, then he’s going to have to win the urban areas (at which he excels) but also pick up votes in the hinterlands. He’s already indicated that he knows this. Going forward, the fight for rural votes may be one of the most exciting stories of this election.

http://www.ruralvotes.com/thebackforty/?p=108

A latent and lamentable sexism – New Mexico Independent

In a brief piece entitled “Hermione Clinton,” Wilson lays the blame in part on “a latent and lamentable sexism”:

She [Clinton] lost because the superdelegates — the Democratic establishment — went against her.

She became a caricature: too smart, too strong, too assertive, too rational, too competent. Think how the young Harry Potter and his male friends initially reacted to Hermione Granger and you get the idea.

Harris Interactive | The Harris Poll – More Than Half of Americans Never Read Political Blogs

Republican Blog Readers More Likely Than Democrats to Believe Blogs are More Accurate and Valuable Than Mainstream Media

For every political persuasion, it seems like there is at least a handful of political blogs which chart attitudes and opinions on campaigns, issues and candidates relevant to that political leaning. One always hears about a blog breaking news before the “mainstream media” actually covers it. But are people really reading these blogs? The answer is no, as over half of Americans (56%) say they never read blogs that discuss politics. Just under one-quarter (23%) say that they read them several times a year and just 22 percent of Americans read blogs regularly (several times a month or more).

These are some of the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,302 U.S. adults surveyed online between January 15 and 22, 2008 by Harris Interactive®.

There may be no more aptly named politician than Harold Icky (sic). Icky’s role in the Rules and Bylaws Committee reminds me of James Baker in 2000: There is nothing by winning at any cost. Both give lawyers a bad name. Review: Both Michigan and Florida violated rules they previously agreed to. All the candidates agreed not to campaign in either state; Clinton’s was the only name on the Michigan ballot (and she won!). To insist it is undemocratic to hold candidates and states to the rules is unworthy of a candidate.

While Obama has studied both Raygun and the early Bill Clinton (when he was cool), Clinton’s playbook appears written by BushCo.

I have deep sympathy for Hillary Clinton and for her supporters. I agree that Clinton has been mistreated by the press and the public. One ironic effect is that people are once again talking about sexism. It wasn’t long ago that many people said feminism had become irrelevant. Not true. (One of the many things that cost McDuhbya my respect was his easy, laughing acceptance of his supporters calling Hillary a bitch. He should have repudiated that immediately.) Every -ism flourishes in a society as fragmented as ours has become, where divisions are fostered and exploited by those who need to maintain power.

A good aspect to this long campaign is that Obama has been tested and survived. Some of the dirt that the Swiftboat Republicans are going to sling is already out. Obama has remained cool and smart about many things, though I wish he had tried harder in some of the places Clinton was sure to win — especially West Virginia — rather than run out the clock.

I think we are all tired of close contests. I hope tomorrow the citizens of Montana and South Dakota vote overwhelmingly for Obama to help seal the deal. However, I have the uneasy feeling nothing will seal this deal and that Hillary the Warrior will never surrender and, when she’s finally forced to, her supporters will never forgive nor forget. Just how angry and vengeful does a Democrat have to be to vote for McDuhbya? Would you burn down your house because your brother got your dessert?

Honestly, I’m not sure Clinton could beat McCain. She galvanizes the very Republicans who are lukewarm about McBush. Both represent the Washington establishment; neither really stands for Change (gender not withstanding). peace, mjh